Have you thought of using social media marketing to:

A recent survey conducted by Social Media Examiner looked at these and other aspects of social media marketing. [Read the full report]

Benefits

What do you consider the most important benefits of social media marketing?

This survey found that increased exposure and increased traffic ranked #1(85%) and #2(69%) respectively.

The next most significant benefits:

provided marketplace insights (58%)

generated leads (58%)

improved search rankings (55%)

grew business partnerships (51%)

reduced marketing expenses (46%)

improved sales (40%)

Time commitment

How much time should you devote to social media marketing?

This survey found that 59% of respondents are spending 6 hours or more weekly. The largest single group, representing 37.7%, spend 1 – 5 hours weekly.

Time commitment in relation to company size showed businesses with 2 – 10 employees typically spend 1 – 5 hours weekly. The same was true for the solo-owner businesses.

Social Media Tools

Is one social media tool more popular than another?

This survey found Facebook and Twitter continued to lead the pack as the favored social media tools (92% and 82% respectively). Even when years of experience with social media were factored in, these two still outweighed the others.